Slug-casting machine



Mar.13,1923; 1,448,359. E. C. DITTIVIAN.

SLUG CASTING MACHINE.

FILED DEC. 15. 1921. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Mar. 13, 1923.

E. C. DITTMAN.

SLUG CASTING MACHINE.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FILED DEC. 151 1921.

"Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

1,448,359 PATENT \OFFHCE.

ERNST C. DITTMAN, OF CHICAGO, IILINOIS.

SL'U'G-CASTING mn onmn Application filed December 15, 1921. Serial Ho.522,457.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNST C. Drr'rMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Slug-Casting Machines,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to casting machines, especially for casting slugsfor printers use. The general object of the invention is to provide asimple and at the same time a posltive acting machine which will castthe slugs or strips in a single piece and will automatically cut themoff to proper length. Another object is to provide in a machine of thischaracter means for accurately regulating the length of the stripproduced. In carrying out my invention I provide a piston chamberadapted to contain the molten metal, and a plunger in the chamber forforcing the metal out thru a die. One of my objects is to provide a lostmotion device and associated mechanism. for determining the point atwhich the plunger will commence its acting stroke. Other andcontributory objects will appear in the following detailed description.

I accomplish my objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which Figureil is an assembly view in elevation chiefly insection.

Figure 2 is a plan section on the line 2-2, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an assembly view chiefly in section, the plane of sectionbeing at right angles to the plane of section of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional'detail on the line 4-4, Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a detail showing the driving motor and some of theassociated parts by which motion is transmitted to the operating parts.

Like numerals denote like parts throughout several views.

Referring to the drawings, a melting pot 1 is mounted on a base frame 2which is hollow and encloses the motor 3 and much of the transmittingmechanism which will be hereinafter refered to. The melting pot isheated by a burner 5 or other suitable heater. A die 6 is located at theside of the melting pot and communicates through a duct 8 with theinside of the piston chamber 9. This chamber has a plunger 10reciprocating vertically within it. As the plunger descends,

which is controlled by an admission valve 17 shown near the left end ofFigure 3. Th1s valve cooperates with the bottom of the valve seat and isoperated by a valve rod 18 p voted to the end of a walking beam orrocking lever 19 fulcrumed on a stationary pin 20. Said lever isactuated by a rod 22 which extends downward through a stationary guide24 to a point inside of the base frame where it is provided with anantifriction roller 25 adapted to cooperate with the Working edge of arotary cam 26 rigidly fastened to the main power shaft 27. Said shaft isjournaled in suitable hangers 30 and 1s drlven from the motor 3previously mentioned. Any appropriate reduction gearing may beintroduced between the motor and the shaft, one type being illustratedin the drawings, particularly Figure 5. In this form the motor pinion 32meshes with a gear 33 fastened to a jack shaft 34 journaled in hanger 35and a stationary boss 36 (see Figure 1). A pinion 37 is rigidlyfastenedv to shaft 34 and meshes with a gear 38 fastened to shaft 27.

The piston or plunger 10 previously mentioned is operated by a pistonrod 40 which passes up through a stationary guide bracket 41 and ispivotally fastened at its upper end to a walking beam 43. This beam islongitudinally slotted and is slidingly mounted upon a block 44fulcrumed upon a pin 46 mounted at the upper end of a bifurcatedstandard 47. Said standard has a foot 48 which is slidable in ahorizontally stationary guide 50, as shown in Figures 2 and 4. Theposition of this foot longitudinally in the guide is determined by anadjusting screw 52 which is threaded into the standard and is journaledin stationary bearings 53, 53. The screw is provided with a hand wheel54, and the construction is such that by rotating the wheel the standard47 may be shifted to any position desired. It is desirable to providethe standard with a pointer 56 which cooperates with a scale 57 markedon the adjacent portion of the guide. It will be apparent that if theend of the beam opposite to rod 40 be given a definite verticalmovement. the throw of the piston cam which actuates it.

rod may be varied by shifting the standard 47 lengthwise of the guide50.

Thgupward movement of rod 40 is 11mited by a collar 60 which isadjustably fastened to the rod and is adapted to be arrested by thestationary bracket 41. A helical compression spring 62 encircles rod 40,resting upon the top of bracket 41 and at the upper end engaging acollar 63 which isof a connecting rod. The position of the rod in theboss may be regulated by rotating the rod after which the lock nuts 68are tightened and fix the parts rigidly together. The lower section 70of the connecting rod has rigidly fastened to it a sleeve or socket 72which slidingly contains the lower end of section 67 The parts are soconstructed that when the lower section 70 rises it will engage thelower end of the upper section 67 and will force it upward against theforce of spring 62, but the lower section 70 may descend after thedescent of the upper section 67 has been arrested by the engagement ofcollar 60 with the bottom of bracket 41. Thus lost motion is providedfor. Section 70 is fastened to an eccentric strap which encircles aneccentric 81 fastened to the power shaft 27. The eccentric has acontinuous rotary motion and section 70 has a constant throw, but onaccount of the lost motion device just mentioned the plunger 10 does notnecessarily always rise to the same elevation. It will depend upon theposition of the collar 60 on rod 40. Nor does the plunger always descendto the same point. This may be controlled either by shifting the block44 in walking beam 43, or by changing the adjustment of the rod section67 in the walking beam.

Now referring to the mechanism for cutting off the strip 12 as it issuesfrom the mouth of the die 6: Fastened to shaft 27 is a wiper cam 84adapted to engage an anti-friction roller 85 fastened to one end of alever 86 fulcrumed upon a stationary pin 88 mounted in a bracket 89fastened to the inside of the top of base frame 2. The lever extends upthrough a slot 90 in the base frame and at its upper end has a knife 92which slides across the front face of the die 6 for cutting off themetal strip. A spring 93 tends to keep the knife in retracted positionand the roller 85 in contact with the It will be noted that in thisconstruction the action of the knife is positive and occurs always at adefinite 1 point in the chine.

In practice, the metal is Introduced into cycle of operation of themaraaaase 5. After the metal .has reached molten state the motor isstarted and this causes the rods 22 and 67 to reciprocate in timedrelation tooscillate the lever 19 and beam 43. These parts actuaterespectively 1 the valve stem 18 and piston rod'40. The stem 18 controlsthe admission valve 16 while the piston rod controls the plunger 10. Thelength of stroke of the plunger may be increased by shifting the fulcrumblock 46 toward the right, Figure 1, and may be decreased by shifting itin the opposite direction. It will be evident that the amount of metalforced out through the die 6 will depend upon the travel of the plungerat each downward stroke. The uppermost position of the plunger (that is,its stopping point) may be regulated by regulating the position of thecollar 60 upon the rod 40. The higher the collar is adjusted upon therod, the smaller will be the stroke of the plunger for any givenposition of the fulcrum block the receptacle l wher it is kept hot bythe burner 44. The arresting of the plunger on its upward stroke willnot interfere with the ac- .tion of the eccentric 81 for after thecollar has engaged the guide track 41 and brought the walking beam to ahalt, the lower secpassages 94 surrounding the die and is circulatedthru pipes 96. These features, however, are shown in a copending aplication filed by me on the 3rd day of ovember, 1921, Serial No.512,619.

It will be evident that the machine is not only simple in its operation,but that it is positive in its action and thus is able to accuratelycontrol the length of the strip produced.

Having thus described my what I claim as new and] desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A casting machine having a chamber adapted to contain molten metal,an aper tured die communicating with said chamber, a plunger working insaid chamber, aconstantly rotating member, and a transmission connectingsaid constantly rotating member to the plunger, said transmissionincluding a lever and fulcrum which are relatively shiftable for varyingthe throw of the lever and consequently varyin the quantity of metalejected during a single cycle.

2. A casting machine having a chamber invention, I

for the molten metal, said chamberhaving a die opening, a plungerworking in the chamber, a walking beam connected at one end tosaidplunger, a power device, means for reciprocating the other end ofsaid walking beam, a fulcrum for supporting said walking beam betweenits ends, the fulcrum being slidable relatively to said beam, astationary support, and means for controlling the position of thefulcrum on said support lengthwise of the walking beam for varying thethrow of the plunger.

3. A casting machine having a chamber adapted to contain molten metal,an apertured die communicating with said chamber, a plunger working insaid chamber and having a suction stroke and a forward stroke forejecting the metal through the die, a stop for predetermining the lengthof the suction stroke, a power device having a constant throw and lostmotion connections between said power device and the plunger having oneway engagement for permitting the plunger to be arrested by the stopwithout interfering with action of the power device.

4. A casting machine having a piston chamber adapted to contain moltenmetal, an apertured die communicating with said chamber, a plungerworking in said chamber, an eccentric, an eccentric rod connected to theplunger for actuating it, and means for arresting the plunger prior tothe completion of its natural stroke, the eccentric rod being formedintwo independent parts and having a sleeve fastened to one part andforming a socket for slidingly receiving the end of the other part.

5. A casting machine having a piston chamber adapted to contain moltenmetal, an apertured die communicating with said chamber, a plungerworking in said chamber, a power shaft, transmission mechanism fortransmitting motion from said shaft to the plunger for reciprocating it,a knife adapted to move across the face of the die, and a lever foractuating the knife, said leverbeing actuated by said power shaftwhereby the plunger and the knife are mechanically and positivelycorrelated and caused to operate in a definite, timed relation.

6. A casting machine having a piston chamber adapted to contain moltenmetal, an apertured die communicating with said chamber, a plungerworking in said chamber, a melting pot, a ported valve seat thru whichthe melting pot communicates with the piston chamber, a valvecooperating with said valve seat, a power shaft common to cent to saidstem, a collar adjustably secured to said stem and adapted to engage thestop for arresting the plunger, a power device, lost motion connectionsbetween the power device and the plunger stem for actuating it, and aspring connected to the plunger stem and having a stationary abutmentfor taking up the slack in the lost motion connections.

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ERNST o. DITTMAN.

